Grand Canyon Research

Packing and labeling bags to get loaded onto the truck at the Grand Canyon Monitor and Research Center (GCMRC) in Flagstaff AZ.

Guarding essential items while the guides prep the oar boats.

Fishermen in Marble Canyon who hiked one of the narrow slot canyons to fish the Colorado.

A completed bug trap.

Researcher measuring and weighing various caught rodents and entering data.

Juvenile Chuckwalla captured after landing in camp by herpetologist.

Any tool that can help research in the canyon must be well built and decorated.

The traps were set early one day so we went for a brief side excursion 1000 feet above camp.

Deer mouse freshly released from a live trap.

Collecting ground traps for whatever insect fell in them the night before.

We met with a fish and game officer who was trying to control the non-native fish population with electric stunning technology. The cold water which comes from the bottom of the dam is preferential to the trout which eats the native fish.

The truck is loaded and ready for the 2 hour drive north to Lee's Ferry near the Glen Canyon Dam.

A commercial trip also getting ready.

We get to relax along the quiet stretches while the guides pull the wood oars.

A new layer of sandstone emerges as we descend deeper into the canyon.

An assistant for the "Bug Team" or entomologists watches bumble bees emerge from prickly pear blossoms.

Setting the timer on a night trap equipped with UV light.

Assistant releasing rodents from the live traps after data has been collected.

Caught scorpion modeled for a picture.

Standard footware at the time for most rafters and guides in the Grand Canyon.

We took those rapids the next day. We were in an area heavy with ancestral Pueblan ruins and artifacts. The area could have supported quite a large population.

Tail winds are fund and help the rafts through the slow sections of the river.

Making camp on a small beach surrounded by sheer cliff walls.

Nearing Lee's Ferry where the Grand Canyon begins. The Vermillion Cliffs emerging in the background.

Sunset over Lee's Ferry.

Many California Condors live around this bridge and are a treasure to see. Giant wingspans make them spotable and somewhat intimidating.

A desolate but beautiful landscape.

Insect net in hand, the assistant is visiting the bug traps in the morning to assess the previous night collection.

The river guides get to relax and take some photos while the scientists get set up.

Data being entered directly via laptop.

Ripples and mud.

What a great laboratory.

We rafted that rapid the next morning right from the beginning.

Ancestral Pueblan ruins.

I caught a collared lizard with my camera. He seemed to like getting his picture taken.

Rowing into a headwind is never fun, even in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Beach at Lee's Ferry where most river trips begin. This is also a major landing where Wesley Powell stopped before entering the canyon.

Departure from Lee's Ferry and proceeding through Marble Canyon.

My Yashica twin lens with Benbo trekker tripod in position.

Myself hunting the elusive lizard.

Mouse caught in a live trap.

Herpetologist cataloging a form of fence lizard or bluebelly.

Finished bug display which will be re-mounted back at Northern Arizona University.

Enjoying the warm wind of an approaching monsoon.

One of a few waterfalls that emerge out of the walls of the canyon. This one called Vaisey's Paradise and was first named and described by Wesley Powell.

The famous amphitheater first described by Wesely Powell and a popular stop for tourists.

The truck arrives with luggage and rafts. Everyone pitches in to unload it. It will take approximately 6 hours to fill the rafts, load them and get them ready for departure early the next morning.

Marble Canyon

My brother Colin setting up a bug trap to collect data. At each beach the various scientific disciplines set up various forms of data collection which takes at least a few hours after arrival.

Wood rat caught in a trap an survived a tough night in the rain.

Miniature wasp being cataloged.

My brother working an impromptu bug laboratory.

As a biology student at Northern Arizona University my brother got to participate in a few studies which took him to places like this.

Short rapid we viewed the previous day from our hike on the cliff above to the right.

Vaisey's Paradise has a unique species of frog which exist nowhere else on earth but the base of that waterfall. This is why it is so important to get a survey of the life on the beaches in the Canyon.

This was called the diving board by the guides. Not that anyone ever dove off it.